Urine collection devices have their most obvious use in the health care industry. However, other areas of human endeavor outside the health care industry also find uses for urine collection devices. Hunters, pilots,boaters, any travelers/truck drivers, handicapped individuals would also find, under certain circumstances, that an easy to use, disposable urine collection device would be advantageous or necessary. Moreover, given the current concern for the huge amount of waste products produced by our society--for example the enormous load that disposable diapers puts on land fills--the need for a biodegradable urine collection device would also appear to be important. Last, a urine collection device, in addition to being biodegradable and disposable, must be both easy to use and easy and inexpensive to manufacture. It provides little commercial advantage to possess all the other qualities of a good urine collection device if it is prohibitably expensive to the consumer.
Four the advantages of convenience and safety in collection and storage of the urine, the bag or collection vessels of the urine collection devices should contain an element or material that will react with the urine to convert the urine from a fluid to a gel. However, dispersion of the urine into the bag in reaction with the gelatinizing reagent may clog the tube transporting the urine into the bag. Thus, it is advantageous to provide in the urine collection device, a means to introduce the urine into the collection bag or vessel without the possibility of clogging the transport tube.
Urine collection devices require an effective seal between the genitalia and the device itself to prevent leakage and to maintain comfortable and sanitary conditions during use. Moreover, such a genital engagement member must possess the same qualities of biodegradability and ease of manufacturer that are required of the bag and the tube of the end collection device. That is, the urine collection device should be 100% biodegradable.
Added convenience is provided for by including the urine collection device as part of a kit, the kit including the urine collection device for storage before and after use and a water-proof, self-sealing biodegradable bag and, including in the bag, a biodegradable privacy skirt to be used for shielding the private parts during use.
Heretofore, the market has lacked a urine collection device that is inexpensive to manufacture, easy to use, disposable and biodegradable. Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a urine collection device, in male and female models, which is inexpensive to manufacture, easy and effective to use, biodegradable and disposable.